Page 50 of Double Take

“Are you listening?”

“I am.”

“You’re not. But, I can’t stay with your family.”

“Why not? You love my family and they love you.” More than they loved him. Well, his father did, anyway.

“I mean—”

“They’re at the lake. It’s the weekend thing we—they—do four times a year. You’ve been dozens of times and are one of the family, so what’s the problem?”

“But—”

“And, truthfully, I’d like to use you as a buffer. There. I said it.” And now he wanted to take it back.

“A buffer?”

He groaned. “That kind of came out more blunt than I’d intended, but this is going to be the first time I’ve seen my family in months, and my dad is ... difficult.” To say the least. “If you’re there, maybe he won’t bequite... as ... difficult.”

“What’s with you two? He’s not like that with Keegan and Dixon or Steph. Why you?”

“Because I went into law enforcement, and he can’t forgive what happened to his brother. He hates anyone involved. Including me.” He glanced at her, and she turned to gaze out the windshield. Remorse tugged at him. “Never mind. That’s the coward in me speaking. I’ll take you wherever you want to go, get someone to drive by and check on you on a regular basis, and go deal with my family.” Because if he didn’t show up for this, and they found out he was home, he would be blackballed by all of them. Not just his father. And theywouldfind out, because Steph would let it slip eventually.

“James Lee Cross, the last thing you could be labeled is a coward.”

Her instant defense did something for his heart, and he suppressed the desire to pull over and hug her. And maybe kiss her. No, no, no.Nokissing. At least not yet. Not until she let him know that she had similar feelings? “I may not be a coward when it comes to doing my job or defending my country, but when it comes to facing my dad ... well, coward is the only word that truly fits.”

“Hmm. I can come up with a few good arguments against that, but I can tell they’ll fall on deaf ears. So...”

“So?”

“I’ll go.”

“Okay.” He cringed at how fast he jumped on that.

She laughed. “Is Jess going to be there?”

He wasn’t surprised she asked. Jesslyn was a frequent lake weekend crasher. “No, Steph asked her, but she’s working.”

“Bummer.” She paused. “Wait, Steph already asked her, but she didn’t ask me?”

“I told her I’d ask you if I wound up coming.”

“Oh. So, you weren’t planning on going until just now, which is why I got the last-minute invitation?”

“Um ... sorry?”

“You’re forgiven.”

“Besides, you know you have a standing invitation. You don’t have to wait for one of us to ask you.”

“I know.”

He smiled—then frowned at the rearview mirror. Was the truck back? It looked similar to the one—

No, it turned off.

His fingers flexed around the wheel. He didn’t want to be paranoid, but this guy who seemed to have some kind of score to settle with Lainie was a real concern.

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